I was going to post this yesterday, but paid my respects to the late Doc Watson instead. Today, though, is about something to celebrate – Neil Young’s first album with the entire Crazy Horse lineup since 1996. It’s called Americana and it’s an interesting concept.

Neil Young and Crazy Horse will put out an album of reworked American folk songs this summer for an LP called Americana (“Clementine,” “She’ll Be Comin’ Round The Mountain,” that kind of thing). It’s the first collaboration between Young and Crazy Horse since 2003′s Greendale and the first featuring Crazy Horse’s current full roster (Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina, Frank “Poncho” Sampedro) since 1996′s Broken Arrow. Young went on record about the release earlier this year, telling Rolling Stone that “”A very young choir of children plays with Crazy Horse [on the album]. They’re songs we all know from kindergarden, but Crazy Horse has rearranged them, and they now belong to us.”

I’ve got a couple of cuts from the album for you to sample. First, “Jesus’ Chariot (She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain)”:

As with so many things Les Miles says, it’s hard to tell whether he’s being a smartass or just smart when he discusses his displeasure with LSU having Florida as its permanent cross-division partner/rival.

“This is all based on some vague tradition that is not considering that you’re adding teams to the conference,” he said. “Tell me about the tradition of the conference when you add teams to it.

“I mean, Florida isn’t even a nearby state. This tradition of rivalry is the fact that we enjoy playing them.”

Wait a minute… if you enjoy playing them, then why do you want to do away with… oh, never mind.

If Miles is complaining specifically about his game, well, okay. Although his “adding teams to the conference” rationale doesn’t make much sense in that there were unbalanced rivalries/pairings before expansion when he didn’t object and the two new schools aren’t exactly patsies. But there’s so much “it’s not fair!” whining going on these days you can hardly blame the man for his share. However, if he’s dissing “the tradition of the conference” as a whole, The Hat can go screw himself.

It’s not like we fans were clamoring for conference expansion. That’s come about solely as a result of the chase for the almighty dollar. And that’s a chase that benefits Les Miles a helluva lot more than it does me. So if you’ve got a problem with SEC tradition, Les, kindly keep it to yourself.

The other conferences may be working to keep the SEC down in the new postseason, but there isn’t much they’re doing about the righteous asskicking they’re receiving from the SEC on the recruiting trail right now.

Lest we forget, football isn’t the only sport with a scheduling agenda on the table at Destin. The SEC is grappling with that for men’s basketball, as well. John Calipari thinks the conference ought to pit its best teams against each other and let the conference’s lesser lights do the same against each other. That would presumably maximize the schools’ RPIs.

“Is that what it’s about, who wins the league or the league tournament?” Calipari said. “Or is it about your seed in the NCAA Tournament? How many teams do we want in the NCAA Tournament? Do you want three or four, or do you want six or seven? If you want six or seven, this scheduling matters.”

I’m not saying he’s wrong about that. I am saying that coaches are like anyone else; they’re going to advocate in their own interests. And the reality is that making the tourney is everything in men’s basketball. You can bitch as much as you want to about what the one-and-done rule has done to the sport, but it’s March Madness that’s devalued basketball’s regular season into nothing more than a playoff delivery system. And with a big enough playoff, you’ll see football go down the same road.

Quote Of The Day

“It brings back a great Bulldog running back in Thomas who has NFL playing experience and has had success as a college coach at multiple schools. He also inherits a position that has been built to an elite level by Bryan. And it gives Bryan the opportunity to return to coaching the position he played and the one where he cut his teeth serving as a graduate assistant under wide receiver coach John Eason here at UGA. It also provides him with a new experience as a passing game coordinator.” -- Mark Richt, AB-H, 2/16/15